OUR COMMERCE WITH AFRICA. 367 



prevent all slave-vessels leaving them with their 

 cargoes ; and to give the officers promotion, and 

 the men double pay, for the monotonous and 

 troublesome service they have to perform. 



It will be objected to this plan, that upon a 

 line of coast of four thousand miles in extent, 

 there are so many shipping-places for slaves, 

 that it would be impossible to guard them all, 

 and that the trade would only shift its position. 

 To this I can only reply, that all measures short 

 of declaring the trade piracy must of necessity 

 be imperfect ; but that this is much superior to 

 the present plan, and would certainly have the 

 effect of keeping the principal marts of British 

 commerce perfectly free from the direct inter- 

 ference of slave-traders, as it is self-evident that 

 if the slaver found it impossible to escape cap- 

 ture, he would cease frequenting those ports 

 that were strictly blockaded. 



It would also save British officers from the 

 disgrace of receiving prize money for saving 

 their fellow creatures from bondage. What 

 would be thought of paying the commander 

 and crew of a British man-of-war five pounds 

 per man for the remnant of some unfortunate 

 crew they had taken off a wreck ? Yet the two 



